One of life’s great pleasures is enjoying a glass of ‘super Tuscan’. What’s even better is when drinking it on the terrace of the estate itself, with the view of the rolling hills of Tuscany whilst a fillet steak sizzles on the barbeque!
Me and the wife spent a wonderful three days at Capezzana in September and were totally blown away by their wines. They are based in the town of Carmignano, 25 km north west of Florence, has its own identity of terroir and been designated a DOCG since 1990.
The estate’s philosophy is to uphold traditions but keep improving and their dedication to quality was more than evident in the wines we tasted. First of all, to build up a thirst, there was a trip around the winery and we were fascinated by the labyrinth of tunnels filled with large oak barrels housing thousands of litres of delicious red wine. Due to the timing of our visit we were able to view the drying process of the white grapes that are used to make their legendary Vin Santo dessert wine.
It was time to taste some wines and first off was the 2013 Barco Reale di Carmignano which is the estate red for early drinking. It’s a blend of Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon and is drinking beautifully at the moment with flavours of cherry and plum and a touch of oak. Next up was the estate’s historic 2011 Villa di Capezzana which has the same blend of grapes but has longer time in oak and was totally stunning. More concentrated and structured with dark cherry, liquorice and spice this was an absolute joy – no spitting on this one! Finally the 2009 Ghiaie Della Furba, the ‘Super Tuscan’ (Tuscan wine made with French grapes) and this was a totally different beast. A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah we had black cherries again but with sage, chocolate and cassis flavours too. Hugely concentrated with a long, rich finish.
What wonderful wines but how do you follow a tasting like that? You grab a bottle of each and go and light the barbeque of course! It was a good night…
